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Experimental Law and Economics.Pdf I. INTRODUCTION This paper reviews a new research technique in law and economics-- experimental law and economics. Although some economists have used laboratory techniques to study and develop economic theory for more than 20 years, researchers have only recently started to use these techniques specifically in law and economics. In this paper we review the literature in economics relevant to law and economics and then show how the technique makes it possible to both test theories and examine the effects of alterna• tive legal policies without costly social experiments. Finally, we discuss the few experimental studies dealing directly with propositions in law and economics and suggest some appropriate directions for future research. II. INTRODUCTION TO EXPERIMENTAL ECONOMICS A. A Brief Introduction to Experimental Technique In the sections which follow we will review in some detail the tech• niques and results of a substantial amount of experimental work. However, to prepare the reader who is completely unacquainted with experimental procedure to understand the discussion below, we will first very briefly sketch the techniques and methodological motivations for using experiments. First, what are "experimental techniques"? An experiment in economics almost always includes at least four important features. First, the ex• perimenters observe the behavior of human subjects--often college students- -who are following a set of instructions. The instructions ask the subjects to make certain decisions and promise to pay them money at the conclusion of the experiment. The amount of money each subject ia paid depends on the decisions he makes. Second, the instructions place the subjects in an abstract version of some naturally-occurring economic environment, in which they are required to play the roles of specific economic agents, such as consumers or firms. These instructions also provide the social institutions within which the subjects may interact. An experiment must abstract from the naturally- occurring environment because the "real world" subjects of economic in• quiry, such as stock exchanges or disputes between landowners, are often tremendously detailed and complex. To analyze these complex subjects, 1 economists build theories which abstract from many of these details. Laboratory experiments abstract in an entirely analogous fashion. Third, the payoffs to subjects are structured so as to induce preferences in any subject who prefers earning more money to earning less money. For example, if an experimenter wishes to study a "seller's" be• havior, the instructions might inform a subject that he may purchase a "commodity" at a fixed price from the experimenter ('p'), that he can sell the commodity to another subject at any price he can persuade the other subject to agree to ('a'), and that the experimenter will pay the subject In exchange for the loss of detail in the theories, economists (hope to) gain theoretical tools which, can, in many circumstances, predict behavior. Such economic theories commonly presume that an "environment" contains utility-maximizing consumers who have various amounts of wealth and differing preferences, and profit-maximizing firms, each with its own ability to turn raw materials into valued goods and serv• ices. There are abstract versions of social institutions, such as the law of tort end contract, which enable these consumers and firms to interact. This interaction produces goods and services, which are distributed to the consumers. 3. the difference between sale and purchase price (s-p). Under these cir• cumstances, any subject who prefers to take home as much money as he can will also prefer to make his sale at as high a price as he can. In this way, the experimenter can induce subjects to try to "sell high, buy low," just as real sellers and buyers try to do. Fourth, the experimenter observes both the subjects' decisions and the associated cash payouts to subjects. Then, he uses the data to infer some• thing either about an economic theory, or about the real world subject of 2 that economic theory. What does one need to assume in order to make laboratory experiments a valid source of data about naturally-occurring environments? The literature 3 on the philosophy behind the use of experiaental techniques in economics has focused on three crucial assumptions. First, one must assume that subjects will prefer more money (in payoffs) to less money. In this way, the use of reel money payoffs can be used to induce preferences in the 4 subjects in a predictable fashion. Second, one must assume that the same general rules of human behavior apply in both the laboratory and the 2 This last step is discussed in much greater detail, below. 3 Charles R. Plott, Industrial Organization Theory and Experimental Economics, 20 J. Econ. Lit. 1465 (1982) Vernon L. Smith, Experimental Economics: Induced Value Theory, 66 Am. Ec. Rev. 274 (1976) and Microeconomic Systems as an Experimental Science, 72 Am. Ec. Rev. 923 (1982); Louis L. Wilde, On the Use of Laboratory Experiments in Economics, in J.C. Pitt (ed.) Philosophy in Economics 137 (1981). 4 Smith (1976), Id. Actually, subjects must prefer more money to less money in just the same way that people prefer more to less in real life--not always, but to an overwhelming degree and in certain regular, predictable ways. This is enough to make experimental data useful. 5. just as people occasionally do in the natural world. The second and third assumptions are far aore difficult to test. Although, with sufficient comparative naturally-occurring data it may be possible to test for paral- 9 lelism. However, because these assumptions are often difficult and costly to test, scholars in the field tend to rely upon peer consensus in evaluat• ing experimental design. This "consensus" evolves out of the standard academic institutions for quality control -- workshops on the papers before critical audiences, and referred journal acceptances (in all but legal, publications). What are the basic allocations for using experimental techniques? We can cluster the uses into five groups. First, experiments can provide the 10 cleanest possible tests of fundamental theories in economics. Economic theories often specify little institutional detail, and can be mimicked ('modeled') quite easily in the laboratory. By inducing in subjects preferences that conform precisely to a model's specification, and by excluding all of the 'noise' of the natural world which the model does not include, the experimentalist can produce an environment in which a theory has, on its own terms, the very best chance to predict behavioral outcomes. If the theory fails under these circumstances, there is little reason compared to both predictions to see which model predicts the results bet- ter. Fourth, experiments may stimulate the creation of new theory. This can occur when en experiment produces results that no existing theory can explain. Under such circumstances, theorists may be lead to create new theories which explain the data, and which also have a great deal to say 14 about naturally-occurring situations. And fifth, laboratory experiments are relatively inexpensive, compared to some ways of testing competing theories or policies in naturally- occurring environments. If the naturally-occurring data have already been collected end summarized, then econometric work on those data is likely to be less expensive than experiments. However, if a new data series would have to be collected, or if a completely new policy for which naturally- occurring data do not yet exist is being considered, then experiments are likely to be far cheaper. Collecting a lengthy data series can be quite expensive. To collect any data on a previously untried policy would require tinkering with important natural institutions as part of a potentially costly social experiment. New alternatives can be considered much more See, e.g., Arlington W. Williaas, The Formation of Market Forecasts: Experimental Evidence, Xerox (1984), for an illustration of this tech• nique. On pp. 22-26, we discuss another set of studies which illustrates this technique. See, e.g. David Easley and John Ledyard, A Theory of Price Formation and Exchange in Oral Auctions, Northwestern University Hath Center Working Paper #461 (1983) and Daniel Frledman, Price Formation in Double Auction Markets, An. Econ. Rev. (forthcoming) for an illustra• tion of the use of experimental results in theory development. On pp. 40-41, we discuss another set of studies which illustrates this technique. a. efficiently in the controlled laboratory setting, without disrupting 15 natural institutions. B. Competitive Markets: An Example of the Use of Experimental Economics 16 In a series of papers in the 1960's, Vernon Smith defined the basic methodology of experimental economics, as outlined above, and illustrated the utility of experimental techniques to studying basic economic ques- 17 tions. In this section we will review not only the early Smith market experiments, but also the more recent work which was inspired by Smith's efforts. This review should provide some specific examples of the concepts 13 See e.g. James T. Hong and Charles R. Plott, Rate Filing Policies for Inland Water Transportation: An Experimental Approach, 13 Bell Journal of Economics 1 (1962) for an illustration of the use of experiments for policy comparison. This study is discussed on pp. 31-32, Infra. A word of caution would be mentioned at this point. Experimental techniques are quite useful for screening out unhelpful theories from the set of all theories which policy analysts must consider, and can do so at low cost. However, these techniques will not screen out all unhelpful theories, and may actually fail to weed out many such poor theories. What experiments do well is to cheaply raise the proportion of helpful theories among those which must be considered further. 16 Vernon L. Smith, An Experimental Study of Competitive Market Behavior, 60 J. Pol. Econ. 111 (1962); Experimental Auction Markets end the Walrasian Hypothesis, 73 J.
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